The Sad Land

The iron fist of Brigadier General Antonio Kebreau, Haiti's new boss, fell on the black republic last week, bringing temporary calm. After a weekend of arson and terror, the sullen followers of exiled provisional President Daniel Fignole went back to work. Kebreau jammed the jails with political prisoners.

Black Revolt. In the Maryland-sized republic, just three air hours from Miami, the weekend of turmoil only topped off a chaotic political record. In the 153 years since independence, Haiti has had two emperors, one king and 30 Presidents, only two of whom peacefully turned the office over to their successors. Haitian rulers have been fed arsenic, dynamited, driven to suicide, torn to pieces.

The violence stems partly from the manner of Haiti's birth. While revolution tore France in 1791, half a million black slaves rose against France's colonial rule. In two months they massacred more than 2,000 whites, razed more than 1,000 plantations. Haiti never recovered. The world's richest colony before the revolution, it is now a poorhouse. Only 23,470 Haitians out of 3,500,000 engage in middle-class occupations. As the economy strangled, politics turned into a business venture, with revolution the key to the treasury.

Marine Interlude. The 1915-34 occupation by the U.S. Marines reversed the trend, gave Haiti hospitals, telephones and political peace. The paradoxically gentle side of the Haitian nature emerged. From the Marine departure to President Paul Magloire's ouster last year, Haiti had only four Presidents, a modern record. But as the occupation memory faded, the technical services and the civic sense declined, and chaos reclaimed the land. Seven regimes have ruled in the past six months.

The result is a wrecked economy:

P: The coffee crop is the poorest on record, down an estimated $9,000,000 from 1956.

P: The public debt pushes $65 million.

P: The tourist trade hit a severe slump.

P: Domestic business sagged sharply.

The U.S. is prepared to give assistance, and experts in Washington stood ready last week to fly to Port-au-Prince. But without the re-establishment of public order, no amount of aid could go very far. Sending the Marines was out of the question in the era of the Good Neighbor, but the U.S. Embassy might call in the Haitian politicians and hammer the desk, then sweeten the harsh words with promises of large-scale aid if they would unite patriotically to save their country.

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